City launches pilot program to boost reading
Date: 11/23/2010
Nov. 22, 2010By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
SPRINGFIELD -- Springfield Public Schools, the Springfield Housing Authority (SHA) and the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation announced a pilot program last week designed to help meet the goal of having all of the city's public school students read at their grade level by the end of the third grade.
Public school students who live in two of the housing developments managed by the SHA, the John L. Sullivan and John I. Robinson housing complexes, will be able to participate in the program, which was made possible by a $390,000 grant over two years from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The 200 families in the pilot program have students enrolled at the Boland and Dorman elementary schools.
The new program, Talk/Read/Succeed!, was introduced at a press conference conducted in the community building of the Sullivan housing complex, where the SHA and the Boland Elementary School have already established a small library for the children who live there.
Talk/Read/Succeed! is part of the Davis Foundation's Reading Success by the Fourth Grade Initiative. Sixty four percent the city's third graders score below proficient on the 2009 Reading Massachusetts Comprehensive Achievement Survey (MCAS).
Sally Fuller of the Davis Foundation said the goal was to increase test scores by 2016.
Timothy Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association, said, "From birth to the third grade, children are learning to read. After that they are reading to learn."
"If they don't get there [reading at grade level], they are behind the eight ball," he added.
Maura Geary, the program manager for Talk/Read/Succeed!, explained the goal is to connect children with literacy in more than just a school environment, but also in their home and community.
This will be done through parental engagement with teachers conducting home visits and asking parents to attend a series of 15 workshops to prepare them to help their children. Geary also noted that educational progress could be made more difficult if families are struggling economically, so one element of the program will be to help participating families become more self-sufficient.
SHA Executive Director William Abashkin said the effort to acquire additional money to expand the project has already been undertaken.
Other partners in the program include Pioneer Valley United Way, the Springfield Education Association and The Hampden County Regional Employment Board.
